Tag Archives: City of Peoria

City of Peoria, East Bluff, TIF

EVGC meeting report

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I wasn’t able to attend the East Village Growth Cell meeting this past Tuesday night, but a regular reader of the Chronicle (who wishes to remain anonymous) was there and has turned in this report:

Councilman Riggenbach was present, Gulley was absent.

They discussed changes to the rehab qualification. The first issue was the loan terms. City officials recommended:

“0% interest if paid back within the specified loan terms (outlined below) however, the loan becomes immediately due and payable upon sale, transfer, or if the homeowner ceases to occupy the home excluding any one or more of the following (each a permitted transfer): any sale, conveyance or tranfer (A) to a spouse upon dissolution of marriage, (B) to the surviving spouse upon death of a joint tenant Owner or (C) by will.
LOAN > $20,000 = 20 yr term
LOAN > $15,000 = 15 yr term
LOAN > $10,000 = 10 yr term
LOAN = $10,000 or less = 5 yr term

Some people had an issue with the 0% loan, suggesting that it may cause funding problems for the TIF in the future from bad loans that aren’t getting paid back. The item passed unanimously.

The owner of the Cornerstone building was there asking if businesses in the TIF district qualified for this. At this point, it’s home-owners only.

The next item addressed was how often an owner can re-apply for the $5000 grant and additional $25,000 loan. Vote on one:

“a. the $5000 grant may be obtained one time and every approved application will receive the $5000 grant if the total project costs are in excess of $5000”

or

“b. the grant can be obtained multiple times if more that $30000 total is invested in the project.”

There was a great deal of discussion on this. Someone suggested the grant and loan be applied only to one address and not to a particular person because the purpose of this program is to “better the property more than the person.” Someone disagreed and suggested that if someone is willing to put the full $30,000 into repair of a property and has paid it back, he should be able to get the grant and loan for the same property a second time to further improve the property. This motion gained a lot of support and was motioned for approval. I asked if there are any provisions to insure the recipient of the grant and loan are using the money properly and not spending it on luxuries unrelated to the property. I was told these are details that will be worked out later. I asked if the program is set up to allow do-it-yourselfers to pay themselves from this grant and loan before they can dip back into it or if they must provide receipts and receive no self-compensation for their own work. Again, was told this hasn’t been addressed yet and will be worked out in the details. City staff appeared to be noting these concerns. Item b. passed unanimously with wording changed to allow the 2nd $5000 grant after the loan is paid back.

Someone asked when funds are expected to be available. Nothing set yet, but it could be soon or as long as 3 years from now. It’s up to Council.

Someone made a comment about the people who weren’t there to vote and whether they’ll be notified first before this passes to the draft stage. A comment was made by the speaker to the effect of: “they should have been here to vote.” My thoughts are that many of them would if the webpage would be updated properly. I asked Bobby Gray about this later in the evening. He admitted to being tardy on updating the website.

Next item discussed was the point system similar to Decatur and Springfield’s TIFs. Money is distributed based on points collected from the different repairs to be done. Different categories were “Exterior Improvements, Sustainability, Density, Code Improvements and Comprehensiveness of the Project.” The crowd received this whole point system negatively, saying if shouldn’t matter what the project is, if a homeowner is willing to live in and improve the neighborhood. A motioin to deny point system and a motion to add a priority list for anyone who borrows as follows: “1. life safety (doors, windows, etc), 2. Structural integrity (roof, foundation,) 3. Occupant health (Asbesthos, mold removal) 4. Exterior.” Both motions pass

There were addtional questions about fences, lighting & landscape removal if it endangers the property. These will be looked at for the next meeting. I asked about the owner occupancy status and wether of not non-profit rehab groups can qualify for this grant. At this time, no. But this can be addressed at the next meeting because its never been discussed.

Next meeting was set for two Tuesdays from now.

City of Peoria, East Bluff, TIF

East Village TIF meeting tonight

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I just found out about this meeting that’s taking place tonight:

CITY OF PEORIA, ILLINOIS
EAST VILLAGE GROWTH CELL ADVISORY COMMITTEE
REGULAR BUSINESS MEETING

TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2011
AT 6:00 P.M.

GLEN [OAK] COMMUNITY LEARNING
CENTER LIBRARY
2100 N WISCONSIN AVE
PEORIA, IL 61603

CALL TO ORDER

ROLL CALL

APPROVAL OF MARCH 1, 2011 MINUTES

I. WORKSHOP SESSION TO REFINE THE EVGC RESIDENTIAL REHABILITAION PROGRAM. THE MEETING WILL BE FACILITATED BY ROSS BLACK, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND GROWTH MANAGEMENT

III. OLD BUSINESS

IV. NEW BUSINESS

CITIZEN REQUESTS TO ADDRESS THE COMMITTEE

ADJOURNMENT

It doesn’t necessarily matter that I didn’t hear about it, since I live in the West Bluff. But I hope East Bluff residents did hear about it and are planning to attend. Also, I didn’t mistype the notice above — item number II is missing in the original notice I received.

City Council, City of Peoria, Redistricting

City redistricting process gets started

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The five council districts in the City of Peoria are going to change. After each decennial census, cities are required by law to redraw their district boundaries so that each district has an approximately equal number of residents. The process for redrawing those boundaries got started Thursday night in City Council chambers.

The City’s redistricting committee is made up of the five district council members: Clyde Gulley, Barbara Van Auken, Tim Riggenbach, Bill Spears, and Dan Irving, with Spears acting as chairman since he’s the longest serving of the five. Their first meeting lasted about an hour and consisted primarily of establishing the criteria for redrawing the district map. Some of the criteria are required by law (each district must have nearly equal population and be compact and contiguous), and other criteria were added by committee members (don’t split neighborhoods between multiple districts, use major thoroughfares as boundaries as much as possible).

Keeping these criteria in mind, the committee asked the staff to come back with some proposed maps for the next meeting. They’d like to see several different possible configurations: one that has all districts running east to west (layered), one that has all districts running north to south (columnar), one that has districts one through four laid out as quadrants with the fifth district across the top of it, and one that preserves the current districts as much as possible (West Bluff in second district, East Bluff in third district, valley in first district, etc.).

Senior urban planner Josh Naven is in charge of creating these map proposals. Unlike the old days when these maps had to be created by hand, Naven will have the use of ESRI Districting software. The software comes preloaded with political maps and all the 2010 Census data down to the block level, and has some interoperability with the County’s GIS system. When Naven draws a district boundary, the software will tell him the total population count, minority population, voting age, etc., within that boundary. He can use this information to ensure the new boundaries meet federal and state requirements as he draws the maps to the committee’s specifications.

All redistricting info is being posted to the City’s website at http://www.ci.peoria.il.us/redistricting. This is where the proposed maps will be posted within the week before the committee’s next meeting, which will be Tuesday, June 21, at 5:30 in City Council chambers.

While the committee doesn’t legally have to complete its work until nearly the end of 2012, the City’s Election Commission would like to see the new maps adopted by Labor Day of this year, if possible. Executive Director Tom Bride said the Commission has to redraw all the precincts in the City and send out new voter registration cards, and the council district boundaries impact this process. Precincts cannot be split across district boundary lines, and voting districts are printed on the voter registration cards. The Election Commission’s deadline for completing these tasks is earlier than the City’s deadline for establishing new district boundaries. Establishing the new district boundaries early will keep the Election Commission from having to redo its work later next year.

City Council, City of Peoria, Streets

Can’t maintain the roads we have. Let’s build more!

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On the City Council agenda Tuesday night is a request to spend another $87,369 toward the Pioneer Parkway Extension project.

The extension of Pioneer Parkway is a planned, new, major arterial roadway that will support projected development of the area identified for coordinated, beneficial growth management by the City of Peoria, Peoria County, and the Greater Peoria Sanitary District. The proposed roadway extension will begin at the intersection of Allen Road and Pioneer Parkway and continue west to intersect Trigger Road.

The project has been in the planning stages since 2001, and over $2 million has already been spent ($1 million of that came from a federal grant secured by Ray LaHood). The $87,369 is to cover more “bridge, intersection and environmental engineering studies” to complete the Design Report.

While we continue to pursue building a “new, major arterial roadway,” our existing roads continue to deteriorate as they are starved for maintenance funds. According to the City’s website, Peoria has 450 miles of City streets, and “the majority of these streets have a chip sealed surface.” They go on to say Peoria has “approximately 63 miles of asphalt surface, 36 miles of concrete pavement, and 5 miles of brick streets.”

If you do the math on those numbers, that comes out to 346 miles of roads that have a “chip sealed,” also known as “sealcoat,” surface. Yet the City has not done any sealcoating of residential streets or any overlay of arterial streets since 2009. Any road work you’ve seen here lately is for state routes or interstate highways which are not maintained by the City. The reason we haven’t been doing sealcoating or overlays? Budget. The 2010 budget has a big “0” for this maintenance. The 2011 budget has $750,000 in it for “arterial streets overlay,” but still no sealcoating of residential streets. I honestly think they need to start utilizing project management tools.

Keep in mind that sealcoating itself is a cost-saving measure, since it’s cheaper than doing an asphalt overlay of all residential streets and is considered “preventative maintenance.” The Federal Highway Administration finds that $1 of preventative maintenance when roads are in good to fair condition “will cost $4.00 to $5.00 or more for rehabilitation … to get the same pavement condition from [preventative maintenance]” when roads are in poor to failing condition.

In 2007, the City sealcoated 65 miles of streets. In 2008, they sealcoated 66 miles. And in 2009, 59 miles. That’s an average for 63 miles a year. That means Peoria is about 63 miles behind on their sealcoat plan after skipping 2010. And after putting off preventative maintenance this year, too, the City will be 126 miles behind. How much money will we really have saved once we have to rehabilitate poor and failing roads as a result of this neglect?

But, you may object, we simply don’t have the money to budget for it. As necessary as sealcoating is for preventative maintenance, if we can’t afford it, we just can’t do it.

And that brings us back to the Pioneer Parkway extension. If our budget is so tight that we have to neglect necessary maintenance of our existing streets, what is the warrant for spending any money on planning or building a new arterial road? How many streets would $87,369 sealcoat? If we have that money in the budget, we should put it toward maintaining streets, not building new ones.

An extended Pioneer Parkway would be nice. It might cut five minutes off a drive from Allen Road to Route 91. But it’s a want, not a need. It’s been estimated that this new road will cost $50 million to complete. Is your driving convenience worth $10 million a minute? Is it worth keeping the rest of the City’s streets (maybe even yours) in a perpetual state of disrepair?

When funds are tight, the Council needs to make “tough decisions,” as councilman Eric Turner reminded us frequently during the campaign. I hope he and the other council members make the “tough decision” to vote “no” on the Pioneer Parkway extension, and put that money instead toward maintaining our existing streets.

City Council, City of Peoria, East Bluff

EBNHS not in good standing with state, but it’s not a big deal

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The East Bluff Neighborhood Housing Service’s (EBNHS) status as an Illinois corporation is “not good standing,” according to the Illinois Secretary of State’s website. That means the not-for-profit corporation is past due in filing their annual report and paying the related filing fee. The report was due March 1.

EBNHS Board member Tom Stone said he believes there has been a delay in filing the necessary paperwork due to the organization’s annual audit being conducted, but referred me to the group’s Executive Director, Peggy Shadid, for an official comment. Shadid said the accountant has finished preparing the annual report and she (Shadid) will be sending it in to the state.

What’s interesting is that the state doesn’t appear to require an annual financial report, but rather this form, available from the Secretary of State’s website, which simply asks for the names and addresses of the corporation’s officers and directors, and can even be filed online. The filing fee is $10. The EBNHS has been incorporated since 1986 and, presumably, required to file these annual reports for up to 25 years.

City Attorney Randy Ray said that the EBNHS’s failure to file their annual report with the state in a timely manner was “not a big deal,” but did add that they should remedy the situation as soon as possible. Both he and the Secretary of State’s office said that, once the report is filed, the organization’s status will be restored to “good standing” once again.

Missing this deadline might be a small matter except for the fact that this organization has a history of poor record-keeping and lack of transparency, which resulted in quite a bit of controversy when its revenue source came up for renewal a year ago. Since then, the group has been trying to improve its image and regain the trust of its East Bluff neighbors.

The EBNHS gets its funding from an extra tax that is levied on properties within the EBNHS Special Service District area. The annual levy amounts to roughly $67,000. Starting in 2010, the City Council decided to vote on collection and distribution of that tax revenue on a year-by-year basis, “to assure all required reporting was complete,” Councilman Tim Riggenbach explained at a March 23, 2010 council meeting. Riggenbach did not immediately return a call for comment.

City of Peoria, Redistricting

City redistricting committee to meet next Thursday

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From a press release:

Peoria IL, (May 4, 2011) — The 2010 Census data will cause changes to the City of Peoria Council Districts. As a result, the City of Peoria has formed a Redistricting Committee comprised of the District Council Members and chaired by Council Member Bill Spears. The Committee is charged with facilitating a public process for drafting changes to the Council Districts and making a recommendation to the City Council. The Committee will hold a series of meetings to provide opportunities for the public to participate in the process of redistricting.

The first meeting will be held on Thursday, May 12, 2011, at 5:30 P.M. in City Hall, Council Chambers (Room 400), 419 Fulton Street. At this meeting, residents will have the opportunity to review maps depicting 2010 Census data, understand the legal framework for redistricting, and provide input on the criteria that is most appropriate in determining City of Peoria Council District boundaries.

Information regarding the City of Peoria Redistricting process can be accessed at http://www.ci.peoria.il.us/redistricting. For more information, contact Council Member Bill Spears, Chair, (309) 688-0960.

City Council, City of Peoria

Weaver picks up Montelongo’s mantle

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One Thursday morning a month, councilmen Eric Turner and Jim Montelongo would hold a breakfast chat at City Hall where all citizens can come and talk about their concerns. It appears newly-elected councilman Chuck Weaver is going to continue that practice. A city press release states that Weaver and Turner will be in City Hall Room 112 this morning, May 5, starting at 7:30 a.m. All citizens are invited and encouraged to attend.

City Council, City of Peoria

No live blogging tonight

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I’ll be at the council meeting tonight, but will not be live blogging the event. My wife and I were invited to attend tonight’s swearing-in ceremony as guests of newly-elected council member Beth Akeson, so I’ll blog about the event afterwards. If you want live coverage, I recommend WCBU (89.9 FM), Comcast Cable channel 22, or the Peoria Journal Star (pjstar.com) which will be live-streaming the event this evening.

Of course, the big news tonight will be the return of George Jacob to the horseshoe for the first time since his motorcycle accident. This is also his last meeting as a councilman, as his term expires this evening. Godspeed, Councilman Jacob.

City Council, City of Peoria

Deadlines? What deadlines?

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From today’s Word on the Street column in the Journal Star:

The mayor, meanwhile, said the hotel project – which has yet to begin – could be finalized by the Fourth of July. He said Marriott representatives were in Peoria a couple of weeks ago. He said progress is being made toward demolition work on the existing parking deck and the businesses attached to Big Al’s later this summer.

The City Council has to vote on changes to the redevelopment agreement, which are likely to take place in July.

That quote, of course, is about the downtown hotel project that City Attorney Randy Ray dubbed a “wonderful development” during the time the city was suppressing public information about it. It was rushed through the council in December 2008 with only one business day of public disclosure. The information was released on a Friday afternoon, and the council voted for it the following Monday evening. The timing was so crucial, they couldn’t wait a couple of weeks, or one week, or even a few days extra. It had to be passed that night — December 15, 2008 — or else the whole project would have fallen apart.

Interim City Manager Henry Holling (during his first interim appointment) explained, according to the council minutes, “although the proposed development would not be completed until 2012, the timing of the project was critical because convention and meeting planners were making decisions for events three to four years from now.” Councilman Spain said, “time was of the essence.” Mayor Ardis said, “as soon as the Agreement was signed, the hotel could begin booking events
as many events were booked two to three years in advance.” It was all so … urgent.

And now it’s Monday, May 2, 2011, and nothing — zero, zip, nada — has happened to the site. The original deadlines were never met, so the developer, Gary Matthews, returned to the city council on May 25, 2010 — nearly a year ago — to get those deadlines extended and make some major changes to the design and scope of the project. The council obliged.

One of those new deadlines, from section 3.1 of the agreement: “The Redeveloper shall commence construction of the Project not later than one (1) year from the date of the execution of this Agreement….”

That means construction is supposed to commence before the end of this month. But now Word on the Street tells us the Mayor says the project won’t be finalized until July. And Matthews will be coming back to the council for more changes to the redevelopment agreement.

That’s right. The Mayor has essentially announced that the second agreement’s deadlines will also not be met. Instead, a third redevelopment agreement will have to be drawn up and approved this July, more than two and a half years after that time-critical first vote.

One wonders why the council ever bothers writing deadlines into these agreements when they are never, ever enforced.